Monday, October 22, 2012

Packers kicker Mason Crosby made field goals of 47, 23 & 48 yards in Green Bay's 30-20 win over St. Louis. His lone miss came from 58 yards at the end of the first half.

"Just timing was off on that long one. I've been
hitting the ball well. Sometimes, that's just the way it goes. We'll
work through it. Some of these long ones just aren't falling. With a
58-yarder, you have to hit it pretty much just right. I might have gotten a little quick and it just came off a little bit
low and to the right. It just kind of jumped right. When I hit it, I
knew I didn't match it great. I think I got a little ahead of it. With
the timing, everything has to be right. Unfortunately, it wasn't right.... That 58-yarder
just before half would have been nice, but we finished well and that's
one of the most important things to do."

Crosby also had a notable kickoff - a surprise onside kick in the
first quarter. The Packers recovered it as Crosby commented afterward:

"[CB Trumaine Johnson]'s the guy they're locked on to try to block off the ball. He made a good play, but it was good that we fought and
were able to get it.... We did a great job finishing that play because that ball kept
bouncing around. It was anybody's ball. [LB Jamari Lattimore] did a
good job getting on it."

"We
have it up every week. It’s a skill that Mason Crosby,
I think, is exceptional at. Frankly, watching him kick it Friday in
practice, he hit two that were as high as I’ve seen him kick it. I even
said to Shawn [Slocum], if the opportunity comes, I feel good about the way
Mason’s striking it. At that point in the game, I was trying to get the
momentum to switch."

Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey made field goals of 19, 49, 28 & 38 yards in Dallas' 19-14 win over Carolina. This came after a week of media scrutiny following his missed 51-yard potential game winner last week.

"Last week was tough. It’s just a tough situation.
It’s kind of hard to swallow sometimes. But it was good to go out there
this week, and when the opportunities came up, I was able to put them
through....Anytime you get
those longer attempts, it’s good to knock them through when you get the
opportunity. You just want to make them. It was good to
get that, get some points on the board. That’s what we needed the most,
is get some points on the board."

Bailey also ran the gamut on kickoffs, from a mis-hit short one to start the game to two touchbacks towards the end of the game.

"That [first one] was just
bad. That was just a mental error on my part. I was just
trying to do too much, trying to pretty much kill the ball. I took my
eyes off of it... I had a quite a bit of adrenaline going
for those last two kicks. We needed those kicks. I kind of
got pretty pumped up about it. I’m glad it went out the back of the end
zone, because they probably would have brought it out, even if it was
nine [yards] deep."